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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
A meeting of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on the state of the nation’s economy ended in a deadlock at about midnight on Wednesday, April 20.
The forum will reconvene next Thursday, April 28, to continue further discussions.
Chairman of NGF, Alhaji Abdulazeez Yari, who briefed State House Correspondents, at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the meeting did not reach any conclusion.
Asked to give details of the discussions, he said that would only be after the next meeting on Thursday next week. Yari, who is Zamfara State governor said: “We met as Nigeria Governors’ Forum. At the executive session, we discussed a lot of economic issues.
“The meeting is not yet concluded. We are continuing next week.
“Therefore, by next Thursday, we will be able to give you a recap of what was discussed and the agreement reached.
“In the mean time, you will bear with us until next week. We discussed critically about the nation’s economy, as a follow-up to our last retreat.
“By next Thursday, we will be able to give you details of our meeting and further actions.”
State governors who attended the meeting, which lasted about four hours, included those of Kaduna, Ondo, Rivers, Osun, Cross River, Sokoto, Ebonyi, Edo, Kwara, Nasarawa and Delta among others.
Also in attendance were deputy governors of Ogun, Oyo and Anambra.
The NGF has, in recent times, positioned itself to be Nigeria’s most powerful political group. The forum was always quick to mount pressure on the Federal Government during former president Goodluck Jonathan administration to meet their funding obligations, even though most of them over bloat their expenditure in their respective states.
The NGF became very controversial after former Rivers State governor and current Minister for Transport, Rotimi Amaechi was elected as its leader during the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Although a member of the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Amaechi was known to oppose the government of the day.
